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How to make naturally fermented Sauerkraut, naturally - made easy, using natural ingredients, and illustrated!

Making and canning your own Sauerkraut the old-fashioned fermented way, with
all natural ingredients has never been easier!! Here's how to do it, in
easy steps and completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do
this! It's a great thing to do with your kids!

Step 5 - Repeat steps 2 to 4 for the remaining cabbage

Repeat shredding, salting, and packing until all cabbage is in the container.
Be sure it is deep enough so that its rim is at least 4 or 5 inches above the
cabbage. If juice does not cover cabbage, add boiled and cooled brine (1-1/2
tablespoons of salt per quart of water).

Step 6 - Adding plates, weights and sealing

Add plate and weights; cover container with a clean bath towel.

Step 7 - Store and ferment

Store at 70º to 75ºF while fermenting. At temperatures between 70º and 75ºF,
kraut will be fully fermented in about 3 to 4 weeks; at 60º to 65ºF,
fermentation may take 5 to 6 weeks. At temperatures lower than 60ºF, kraut may
not ferment. Above 75ºF, kraut may become soft.

If you weigh the cabbage down with a brine-filled bag, do not disturb the
crock until normal fermentation is completed (when bubbling ceases). If you use
jars as weight, you will have to verify the kraut 2 to 3 times each week and
remove scum if it forms.

Be sure to keep the containers in an area free of insects. People
have reported that they also wrap the top of the containers with a large old
(but clean) towel, mislin or layers of cheesecloth and secure it (tie it
tightly), so bugs cannot get inside!

Step 8 - Finishing and storing

Fully fermented kraut may be kept tightly covered in the refrigerator for
several months or it may be canned using a boiling water bath canner, as
follows:

Hot pack - Bring kraut and liquid slowly to a boil in a
large kettle, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and fill jars rather firmly
with kraut and juices, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.

A 1-gallon container is needed for each 5 pounds of fresh vegetables.
Therefore, a 5-gallon stone crock is of ideal size for fermenting about 25
pounds of fresh cabbage or cucumbers. Food-grade plastic and glass containers
are excellent substitutes for stone crocks. Other 1- to 3-gallon non-food-grade
plastic containers may be used if lined inside with a clean food-grade plastic
bag.
Click here to find out more about fermentation crocks. There is also a good
book about making old-fashioned sauerkraut.

Caution: Be certain that foods contact only food-grade plastics. Do
not use garbage bags or trash liners. Fermenting sauerkraut in quart
and half-gallon Mason jars is an acceptable practice, but may result in more
spoilage losses.

Cabbage and cucumbers must be kept 1 to 2 inches under brine while
fermenting. After adding prepared vegetables and brine, insert a suitably sized
dinner plate or glass pie plate inside the fermentation container. The plate
must be slightly smaller than the container opening, yet large enough to cover
most of the shredded cabbage or cucumbers. To keep the plate under the brine,
weight it down with 2 to 3 sealed quart jars filled with water. Covering the
container opening with a clean, heavy bath towel helps to prevent contamination
from insects and molds while the vegetables are fermenting. Fine quality
fermented vegetables are also obtained when the plate is weighted down with a
very large clean, plastic bag filled with 3 quarts of water containing 4-1/2
tablespoons of salt. Be sure to seal the plastic bag. Freezer bags sold for
packaging turkeys are suitable for use with 5-gallon containers.

The fermentation container, plate, and jars must be washed in hot sudsy
water, and rinsed well with very hot water before use.

Other Equipment:

From left to right:

Jar lifting tongs
to pick up hot jars

Lid lifter
- to remove lids from the pot
of boiling water (sterilizing )

Lid
- disposable - you may only
use them once

Ring
- holds the lids on the jar until after
the jars cool - then you don't need them

Canning jar funnel
- to fill the jars

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